An audio equipment such as tape recorder comprises a level meter for indicating a level of sound signal supplied to the audio equipment and more specifically a peak level of sound signal so that the tape recorder can record the sound signal without any distortion and in a proper manner.
However, the sound signal supplied to the audio equipment tends to have a level varying over a wide range. A conventional level meter provides an indication having a constant sensitivity over a wide dynamic range. Accordingly, the level meter has an improper indication precision because the scale length of the level meter is very narrow at the point of relatively lower level. If the scale length at the point of lower level is determined to be sufficiently large to observe the scale, then the scale length at the point of higher level is too large to provide an indication over a wide range.